Binance Coin Surges 20% Over News of Tripio Integration

Finally, we get to see efforts made towards the mass adoption of digital currencies. On Tuesday, December 4, blockchain-based hotel-booking platform Tripio announced its strategic partnership with Binance. According to the deal, users of Binance Coin (BNB) can book across 450,000 hotels and residential accommodations listed on the Tripio.

As a result, users can make their payments through the BNB tokens. This is a major push towards the adoption of BNB tokens and the use of cryptocurrencies for merchant payments. Also, the 10 million active users of Binance get an additional facility to make payments and process bookings on Tripio.

【Breaking News】We are pleased to announce a strategic partnership with @Binance. From now on, more than 10 million users of Binance can make reservation for 450,000+ hotels worldwide using $BNB on Tripio. Thanks for the support of @cz_binance#blockchain #TRIO #Crpyto pic.twitter.com/A6kwgUsovO

— Tripio (@thetripio) December 4, 2018

Binance Coin (BNB) On an Upswing

Soon after yesterday’s news of Tripio integration, Binance Coin token (BNB) jumped nearly 20%. While trading around $5.45 earlier yesterday, Binance surged to hit a high of $6.27 in a few hours. At the press time, it is trading at $5.94 with a market cap of $790 million.

Apart from the Tripio news, another factor for the Binance price surge could be the start of the company’s quarterly buy-back commitment.

Growing Merchant Adoption for Cryptocurrencies

Although not significantly impactful, a number of conglomerates have started accepting crypto payments against their product and services. During the last year’s crypto surge, big names like Microsoft, Expedia, etc. announced crypto integrations. Crypto payments are also turning popular in countries with crypto-friendly legislation.

However, this year’s massive market crash has made merchants and businesses skeptical of accepting crypto payments. Moreover, the uncertain regulatory environment around cryptocurrencies and its shortcomings of asset class have played a role in the slow adoption.

At the same time, the scalability issues of the blockchain network continue to hover around. Unless and until digital currencies achieve VISA-level scalability with instant transaction processing, the mass adoption seems a distant dream. The payment verification times for a majority of cryptocurrencies are currently very high. Needless to say that the high volatility of crypto assets has been a major game spoiler for the mass adoption.

Earlier this year in May, while speaking with CNBC, PayPal CFO John Rainey explained the reason behind slow crypto adoption by merchants:

“Because of the volatility of the cryptocurrencies, the merchants saw swings in crypto that threatened the viability of their businesses. If you’re a merchant and you have, let’s say, a 10 percent margin on a product that you sell and you accept bitcoin, for example, and the very next day it moves 15 percent, you’re now underwater on that transaction.”

Crypto-Powered Decentralized Platforms Still In Demand

Note that the slow merchant adoption of digital currencies doesn’t mean the lack of demand. Merchants are still exploring good and robust alternatives to centralized payment processing platforms like PayPal. Even today, PayPal charges 5-10% transactions fees not just from merchants but even from individual users and buyers.

The intrinsic model of cryptocurrencies of facilitating low-cost transactions is itself a value proposition that continues to drive merchants’ interest. Popular projects like XRP have already demonstrated instant cross-border transaction capabilities.

With more than 450,000 registered stays, Tripio itself is a classic example of how efficient decentralized systems can challenge their centralized counterparts.